


That Is To Say, You'll Do It For Him

by ceralynn



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-05 02:52:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4162893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceralynn/pseuds/ceralynn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fusions never truly disappear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Is To Say, You'll Do It For Him

The first time they fuse is the first time Pearl feels whole. It's just part of an exercise, just to see if they can do it, really, but Pearl's heart soars, the heart she now shares with someone she loves. She is part of something, part of someone unspeakably important.

Rainbow Quartz. They tower several feet above the shore, arms thick and gangly, skin glowing a translucent pink, the faint flush of their cheeks a soft periwinkle. Pearl's blue eyes glow above Rose's own, all blinking in unison. Amethyst looks up at them with unrestrained glee and Garnet only smiles, proud of them, both of them in a way no simple gesture could express.

"We could stay like this forever," Pearl's voice sounds in their shared mind.

"Yes," Rose answers. "Yes, we could."

"If we chose to. If we both chose to."

"Only if we both chose to."

They walk along the beach, get used to their body, to their shared weapons. When they unfuse, Pearl does not push the issue, does not speak how right it felt or how she'd like nothing more than to live that way. Rose already knows. Pearl knows that she knows.

\--

Rose speaks at length about how remarkable humans are, how the love they have for themselves, for each other, for entities nothing like them is magnificent, worth preserving, worth  making sacrifices for.

When Rose is prepared to sacrifice herself, as the gems know her, to create a new human life, Pearl is heartbroken. But Rose usually always makes the right choices. Every choice she makes, as far as Pearl is concerned, is the right choice.

\--

" _I embody my— I mean, Ruby and Sapphire's love. I'll always exist in them, even if I split apart._ "

\--

Pearl berates herself, almost unfairly so, whenever she conflates Rose and Steven in her mind; doubly so when she makes the mistake out loud. But Steven is Rose somehow. Somewhere deep down, she lives on through him, as him. Somehow.

And yet, Steven is so beautifully, uniquely himself. Steven has so effortlessly taught Pearl about things that Rose could never get through to her about, not because he knows more, but because he knows so differently. Rose was right about the humans. They are amazing.

Rose is always right.

\--

Some nights Pearl still slips into Steven's room while he sleeps. She knows it's wrong, that it makes him uncomfortable, and she never stays through the night like she used to. But sometimes she can't keep herself away. Sometimes she simply needs to make sure he's alright.

And sleep is such a curious thing that humans do. The way they lay dormant, vulnerable, so trusting of their environments to preserve them while they slumber. The way they need to engage in this strange resting exercise in order to be their truest selves when they wake.

Perhaps it isn't so unnatural. Perhaps Rose is simply sleeping inside of Steven.

And Rainbow Quartz sleeps within both of them.

\--


End file.
